8 Ways To Force Eject A Disc From Your Mac's Optical Drive

• Originally posted on May 18, 2016

Though Apple slowly phased out optical drives from its Mac lineup over the years, you might still have a MacBook or desktop Mac with a disc drive. You might also have an external solution with a CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive.

At some point, there’s a chance that a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray disc is going to get stuck in your Mac or external optical drive. Fortunately, there are some simple steps that can be taken to force eject a disc that’s stuck.

First, try one of these methods:

• Hold down the eject key
• Drag the disc icon to your Mac’s trash bin
• Right-click on the disc icon and select eject
• Press Command > E

Next, try this method to force eject a disc:

• Launch the terminal app and use the following command and then press enter:/usr/bin/drutil eject

If all else fails, you can try these methods:

• Boot your Mac into single-user mode. At the prompt enter /usr/bin/drutil eject. To restart the computer, enter “reboot” at the prompt without the quotation marks.
• Hold down your trackpad button (or your left mouse button) and restart your Mac. Hold the button down until the desktop appears. This will trigger the system to eject your disc before macOS begins loading.
• Shut down the Mac and restart it, then let it sit for 15 minutes. After a short amount of time, the disc may eject itself.

If your disc is still stuck, feel free to contact OWC’s customer support team for further assistance. And if you’re looking to bring optical capabilities back to your workflow, check out OWC’s lineup of optical solutions.

Related Links

• Protecting Your Data: How to Safely Eject a Disk or Drive
• OWC Dock Ejector Safely Disconnects All Devices with One Click
• Give Me My Eject Key Back!

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